


Letter Home

by Daegaer



Category: Fix Bay'nets - George Manville Fenn
Genre: 15minuteficlets, 19th Century, Gay Victorian Soldiers on Mars, Gen, Letters, Soldiers, side scene for On Her Majesty's Martian Service
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-08-26
Updated: 2004-08-26
Packaged: 2021-01-29 07:53:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21406756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Daegaer/pseuds/Daegaer
Summary: Gedge writes home.
Relationships: Bracy (Fix Bay'nets)/Bill Gedge
Kudos: 4





	Letter Home

**Author's Note:**

> Written for 15minuteficlets

Gedge picks up the fallen petals of the flower that seeded itself in the fortress wall. Having lain in the harsh Martian sunlight for some time they are faded, no longer the darkest red he has ever seen. He carries them carefully inside, hoping none of his friends will see him with a flower in his hand. He can just imagine what they'd say.

No one is in the barracks, and he slips quickly over to his bunk, kneeling to rummage in his footlocker. He has a very little paper left, and needs more. He resolves to buy some of the paper he saw in the Martian shops, thick and rough, satisfying to touch. For now, he slips the petals between two sheets of the thin, cheap paper he brought from him. He should write to his mother, he thinks, to tell her how lovely Mars is. She must think he's forgotten her. The letter will take months to reach her, and it will be a year before he gets a reply, if she writes to him at all.

He wants to show her he's made something of himself, and that the army was the right decision. He resolves to send her the petals, and to write to her on the lovely Martian paper. He'll use the old stuff to write it out roughly, he decides. He's sure Mr Bracy will check his spelling for him if he asks, and not laugh at his bad writing. He won't put any mention of Mr Bracy in his rough work, but he'll make sure to tell his mother how kind he is, how good he is to him.

_Mars is wonderful, Mum,_ he thinks. _I'll tell you everything._


End file.
